We meet again
by SearScare
Summary: Set after Revolutions because we all like a happy ending. However, this will become a proper adventure. There are some new characters whose view will be taken to relate to the story. There will be a few flashbacks because I want to explore the in-between
1. Chapter 1

**The New Beginning**

Morpheus sighed in exhaustion and hauled another broken, battered gun out the way. The rebuilding of Zion had every able bodied man and women contributing their utmost. Surprisingly, the machines and provided their assistance with the heavier problems. Despite the mistrust and resentment held by his fellow men he knew that the peace was here to last. Man and Machine could finally live in together.

It was of course, all thanks to Neo.

_Neo._

Morpheus refused to believe that he was dead despite what Commander Locke had said. Morpheus had begged and pleaded but he wasn't granted permission to take a ship and look for him.

In Locke's words, 'We need every experienced person here, re-building our home and despite my personal reservations about your character Captain, I can clearly see that you are needed here. You are a symbol of hope and in you cannot desert your people now.'

Faced with that guilt Morpheus had not disobeyed orders and had stayed, devoting his time to the efforts with a single goal in mind, after he was done, he was going to do his best to find Neo.

Other problems of course presented themselves almost immediately.

The Matrix.

Yes, the machines were willing to free all the humans in return for Man's assistance to clear the skies. But there were flaws in the decision to free them. Most of the people currently in the matrix were not ready to be freed yet. They were so entrenched in the system that sudden freedom would result in large scale loss of life.

Also, practically Zion wasn't ready to sustain the large influx of population which would result after the release of the humans. So a consensus was reached, after Zion was rebuilt the ships would be sent out to broadcast level and the same process would be used to free those who were potential red-pills. This would understandably happen without the danger of Agents.

What Morpheus found a little odd was the machine's refusal to talk about Neo. They had met him yes, they had negotiated with him to save Zion yes, but they wouldn't answer any questions about what happened to him after that. The same stand was held with Trinity; though according to them she wasn't with Neo when they met him. It was all very confusing, and Morpheus had to physically stop himself from jumping on to a ship and taking a trip to Zero One to clear out the mess.

'Captain!'

He looked up to see Kid running to him at full tilt. He smiled briefly, Kid had matured considerably and Morpheus was thinking of recruiting him on to the Neb II after it had been commissioned.

'Captain, they're requesting your presence at The Chamber.'

Morpheus frowned, 'Why?'

'No idea sir, but all the Captains have been called. Apparently the machines have something to give us.'

He raised his eyebrow but threw the scrap metal into a rubbish dump anyway and gestured, 'Lead the way.'

* * *

''The Chamber'' was the newly built hall for Council sessions and other political matters. It was filling up with all the surviving Councilors, Captains and their crews and there was a buzz of excitement in the air.

'Morpheus.'

He looked up and warmth spread through his chest when he saw who was calling.

'Niobe.'

He tilted his head respectfully and glanced around casually for Locke.

'He's busy over there.' She pointed with the smallest of smiles visible.

'Of course, a busy man.'

She raised an eyebrow at his tone but didn't comment. Instead she gestured to an empty seat and he joined her ignoring the amused glances they were attracting.

_Niobe._

She had been another confusing aspect after the war and Morpheus wasn't sure on how to approach her. She wasn't with Locke anymore (for reasons never mentioned) but she hadn't shown any obvious interest in Morpheus either. He wondered if he was supposed to make a move but shrugged off the suggestion, whatever was to happen would happen and it wasn't like they were in the middle of the war anymore.

A sudden keen from the end of the room stopped all conversation and drew all the attention. A sentinel was floating at the entrance flanked by two infantry soldiers who were unnecessarily carrying Electro-magnetic launchers. Two techs stepped forward and connected various wires to it.

Locke cleared his throat and stepped forward, a move which Morpheus knew by experience was made to intimidate people. Odd how it never worked on him.

'This is the official ambassador to Zion. His name is er… Bt- Z14.'

There was polite applause as everyone in the hall acknowledged the ''ambassador.''

'He wishes to convey a very important message from the machine command, so we'll just let him do that…' Locke petered out awkwardly, how was one to be polite to a machine?

The sentinel floated higher and its red eyes flashed various colours. Suddenly its voice blew out of the connected speakers.

**'My greetings to all. As your Commander has specified, I am to be the ambassador to Zion to promote peace and good relations.'**

Morpheus wondered if the slight sneer in its voice was imagined, after all it was a machine.

**'We at Zero One did not think this peace would last. We had anticipated and counter-planned an attack which eventually never happened. We thought that as Humans, you would renegade your promise and the war would resume.'**

There was a sudden silence when he paused, everyone was listening intently.

'**However, we were wrong and for that we would like to extend our apologies.'**

'What if we don't accept them?' Niobe whispered.

Morpheus smiled but kept his attention on the machine.

**'To show that we come in good faith, we have a gift for you; a gift which perhaps can mean more than our words.'**

The sentinel swung his head sideways and a series of clicks issued. The door swung open and two more sentinels glided in carrying a stretcher. A gasp echoed around the hall and Morpheus's chest constricted painfully.

**'While we ourselves do not understand the worth of this human, we do understand the meaning and hope he holds for you. We have healed him to the best of our abilities.'**

The shroud was thrown off and on it lay Neo, seemingly asleep. The entire hall remained in shocked silence until Morpheus, who wasn't quite aware of what he was doing, stood up.

'Is he alive?'

The sentinel swung its head in his direction and it's eyes changed colour rapidly.

**'Yes.'**

Morpheus breathed and felt the pain and confusion which had been weighing him down for the past few weeks disappear. He stood up, ignoring Locke's scowls and jumped down to Neo. His eyes were bandaged and his chest rose and fell in rhythmic movement.

'What happened to his eyes?'

The sentinel clicked and hissed and looked in _confusion(?) _to Locke.

Locke sighed and walked over, 'This is his captain. They were ah, close friends.'

The sentinel nodded in understanding and fixed its gaze on Neo.

**'His eyes were damaged when he came to us. We have of course managed to repair them to a certain degree.'**

Morpheus gently passed a hand over his face, the emotion in him too chaotic to properly put into words. For Morpheus regarded Neo as more than a friend. He was his comrade, he was his savior, he was his _son._

'What about Trinity?'

Kid's voice from the crowd broke through the quiet exclamations. The sentinel wavered, and looked at Locke again for an explanation.

'He's a good friend… I, well, we humans have a affinity for speaking out of turn.' Locke said both annoyed and resigned.

'Yes, where is Trinity?' Morpheus asked, the joy of finding Neo alive wiped out by the apprehension of Trinity's fate.

The clicks and hisses from the Sentinel died down and its red "eyes" flashed a dull red.

**'As we have mentioned earlier, we do not know. We searched the ship for anyone else but there was no-one.'**

Angry muttering burst through the crowd.

'Are you telling me, you lost her body?' Morpheus couldn't help the venom in his voice.

It was a product of the grief from the certainty of her death and the outrage of the lost chance of her proper burial. The Sentinel retreated towards the door and thrashed it's "arms" in agitation.

**'Like I said, we have searched the city, but no other body was found.'**

The seated assembly's mood grew tense and Locke had to shout for silence.

'Enough!'

Silence regained but it was thick with resentment.

**'Perhaps it is best I speak with you and your Commander alone.'**

'Why?'

**'Because there are several circumstances involving his revival and its best we speak in private.'**

The sentinel disengaged itself from the speakers and floated closer to the exit. The crowd didn't miss the double meaning and several captains actually stood up with their hands on their weapons.

'Enough!' Locke called again.

'Captains, stand down at once.'

The captains wavered and Morpheus felt a brief joy, he wasn't the only one prepared to defy Locke anymore.

'This assembly is adjourned, please resume your duty.'

The crowd moved with reluctance, but moved they did in the end.

'Ambassador, Morpheus, follow me.' Locke said quietly waving them both towards the exit.

'What about Neo?' Morpheus asked tersely.

In response the sentinel clicked and the other two floated up to move his body.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: This takes place 1 year from the previous chapter.**

* * *

**2) The New Man**

Morpheus glanced worriedly at Neo before signaling Link to boot up the system. He strapped his left foot and then his right foot down before settling himself into the chair. To his left Neo was already strapped in and was staring quite blankly at the metal walkway above him. To Morpheus's right was Kid and he too was strapped in though his expression was a mixture of apprehension and disgust.

'Ready Captain?'

Link asked, jolting Morpheus to complete the procedure. He tapped a few keys on the screen next to him and shut his eyes.

'Ready, Link. Send us in.'

'Sixty Seconds to go…' Link said tersely before calling out to another crew member.

'A little help, Moose?'

Morpheus smiled to himself when he heard Moose's answering grunt; he wasn't the most helpful man but damn the guy was an amazing pilot. Then again Niobe was his mentor; everyone who she trained (and they weren't a lot) displayed a far superior level of skill than ordinary pilots, but Moose, well, he was just a class apart even for a Niobe protégée.

'On my count Moose, three, two, one…' Link's voice drifted away and Morpheus felt the cord connect up to him, the usual odd feeling of numbness fanning around him.

A telephone rang distantly and Morpheus opened his eyes unsurprised to find himself in a dilapidated building. They really needed to change their entry point to something nicer. A door opened and Kid walked out, his trench coat nearly touching the ground, his sunglasses glinting.

The wall behind Morpheus shuddered and Kid reacted instinctively, pulling out his gun, stopping short when the entire section collapsed and Neo walked out.

'Jesus Neo, don't do that. You scared the hell out of me!'

Neo ignored him and walked up to Morpheus, taking his usual place on his left wing.

'Kid, who's the guy we want?' Morpheus asked smiling a little to make up for Neo's coldness.

'His name is… Czar. Recently crashed the site called Google. Virus's took him into custody sometime ago but that's when the glitch happened.'

Morpheus raised his eyebrow remembering, it had been three hours ago that the Matrix feed had blanked out and then started again.

'The glitch signified him?'

'Not really sir, it signified what he did.'

'What did he do?'

'According to Aztec from The Hammer, he… broke through the stronghold and disappeared.'

Morpheus raised his eyebrows in astonishment. 'Excuse me?'

Kid shrugged his shoulders and repeated himself.

'The entire building collapsed after he was done with it.'

Morpheus glanced at Neo but his impassive face expressed nothing. No-one had displayed "super powers" before Neo, this Czar was clearly another one of a kind.

'We have his location?'

'We have his last known area sir; I figured we could do a block by block search. I told Link to keep a line open if he uses something we can trace him with.'

'Well done, Kid.'

Morpheus said genuinely impressed by the amount of work Kid had put into the mission.

'Transport available?'

'There's a Lexus downstairs, figured we could just borrow it.'

Morpheus nodded and switched his attention to Neo.

'Do you want to come with us or fly ahead and clear the area?'

Neo raised a single eyebrow but as usual didn't say anything.

'Your choice.'

Morpheus repeated hoping that he would show some emotion on his face instead Neo shrugged and walked through the hole in the wall, making his way to the fire escape.

'Well then, let's get moving.'

* * *

Morpheus felt a deep, unsettling weariness settle over him. Neo was getting worse and worse, he hardly ever spoke, he ate god knows when because Morpheus had never seen him set foot inside the Mess. All he did was sleep and enter The Matrix to free imprisoned minds, that too only when Morpheus asked him to.

Morpheus casually glanced around, keeping in mind his surroundings, wary of anyone that looked like a Virus. He sighed and leaned back into the seat, the rich smell of leather momentarily transporting him back through the years. It had all started with Neo's awakening. At first everything had seemed okay; he answered when spoken to, did his duties well and had kept a friendly façade for everyone to see.

But then after a few months his façade slipped often revealing the haunted man that even Morpheus didn't know existed. Neo had slipped slowly but surely into behavior which could only be best described as the beginning of insanity. He had to be forced to enter The Matrix to help against the new threat, the Virus's. He had to be forced to eat, forced to talk, forced to do anything and everything except sleep.

Sleep was one thing Neo had no problem with, he would sleep for entire days but even after so many hours of rest he would emerge if not the same, even more drawn, tired and haunted. Morpheus tried everything, every herb or alcohol he could think of, but nothing helped. And as the months passed and Neo retired deeper into his shell, his powers became stronger and less in control.

He would destroy seemingly without a thought, losing several potential red-pills in the process. His behavior was erratic and he did what he wanted occasionally against direct orders. Morpheus was in despair but he couldn't kick him off the force, he was the only one who could combat Virus's and plus, Morpheus loved Neo like a son, no matter what he did, Morpheus couldn't evict him for the one place he called a home.

So Neo stayed on board the Neb, never disembarking, even when it docked at Zion for refit or rest.

A honk sounded startling Morpheus from his thoughts and causing him to glance outside. They had stopped next to a park and Kid was unbuckling his seat-belt.

'We're here sir.'

Morpheus nodded, sighed to himself and climbed out of the car, careful to avoid the old man who was standing close-by.

'We'll start here sir?'

Morpheus nodded and adjusted his glares, 'Lead the way Kid.'


End file.
